As a releatively new convert to puerh (7 or 8 months) I need to expand my horizons and try some new stuff. I've been drinking a couple of ripes and an expensive raw up till now.
I think the only way I can truly learn about pu is to try it! So I'm prepared to spend

I've been searching through Yunnan Sourcing LLC for a variety of "experiences" and come up with this list:-

Hey drumhum!
I recommend the Mengku Mu Ye Chun Old Tree Green Cake over their Spring Tips cake. It's a couple dollars more, but worth it, I think.
As for Menghai.. In my very humble opinion, their sheng is good but not the best. I have the 7532 you mentioned, and it's certainly good.. but doesn't wow me like the Mengku I mentioned above. Although, I'm a newbie, so, take my words with a grain of salt. Menghai's shu is great though.. I love the
2008 Menghai "Yue Chen Yue Xiang" Ripe Pu-erh tea 357g
and their Golden Needle White Lotus is good too..
another shu I like a lot:
2005 Langhe Tea Factory * Menghai Ripe Pu-erh Tea 250g

Looks pretty good! I must say however that I have not had good luck with buying loose mao cha. I dont know why but it always lacks complexity and flavor compared to a cake, but thats just my opinion. But anyway it looks good, hope you enjoy them!

The only flaw I see is that there's no real aged sheng. The 98 Lincang and the 00 Long Yuan Hao were both stored in Kunming. So, even though they do have some years on them, they've been stored in a very dry climate where pu-erh ages very slowly. From what Kunming-stored pu-erh I've had (one of them is a 98 Lincang), the tea tastes like it's been aged less than half of what it would be were it aged in a more suitable climate, like Hong Kong.

Also, whenever I consider myself new to some type of tea (or anything for that matter), I always start off with the cheapest and work my way up. This is a good idea because before you have a trained palate, it can be hard to distinguish between the cheap, low-quality teas and the better ones. In short, when you start out, you can get a lot more bang for your buck.

If you decide to take my advice on getting some aged pu-erh, you can find some cheap ones at HolyMtn. The ones I've tried from HolyMtn are "Aged Long Leaf Pu-erh," "Large Leaf Aged Pu-erh from Old Trees," and "Yunnan Pu-erh, Very Old." You gotta love the ambiguity of the names . So those are alright, the Large Leaf wasn't so good, so you might want to skip that one. And if you decide you want some nicer stuff, take a look at Houde.

I second Wesli's Hou De recommendation. I recently got a sample of their 2000 Cheng Guang-He Tang "Yi Wu Yieh Sheng" Brick, and liked it so much that I got a brick. It's a very nice example of an "adolescent" sheng.
I haven't tried much older sheng, but I'd go to them for sure.
-dave

stay away from the 1998 lincang green wrapped. i have it and it's nothing special for the price. my advice is to spend the money on one top premium grade green raw cake , and one aged raw that's at least 15 yrs old stored in a humid hotter climate. You'll enjoy your tea more and saved yourself alot of money.

I agree with all the statements made so far about aged and about buying samples. ABx suggested Stéphane's 1990 Fang Cha Zhuan as an example of a sort of benchmark, average aged sheng at a reasonable price. I just got a whole brick (probably more than I need!) and agree that it is a nice example, though not stunning. The last price list I got from him listed it at $8.00 US for 30 gr.

brandon wrote:I have yet to have a 90's sheng that I have found stunning

Me too. That's why I stick with the pre-1950 stuff.

Seriously, I have many times thought that I like younger stuff better than aged ... at least slightly aged more than well aged. The older things I have had are interesting and pleasant, but stunning just has never applied. Maybe it's a trick of exaggerated expectations and minimal experience.

Cheers for the pointer. That Old Tree stuff is actually $1.70 cheaper than the Spring Tips! Its also a 2008 (If this is the one you mean).

I wanted to try a 2007, just to see if I could tell what a year of aging does to a puerh. If its "too much" for me (being "challenging" and all that!) I thought i'd just see it as my first bing in storage

If it tastes bad though...
you've got me thinking... (hurts!)

Interestingly I see TouchaTea.com have a Mengku Spring Tips 2006 for $12.80 by the Hongtaicheng factory. Different factory to the YN LLC cake (Shuanjiang) so now I'm wondering how these would compare. Jeeze you could end up buying a ton at this game!

I'm aware there's no proper old stuff but then (and as you carefully point out) its hard to choose which old stuff to buy when one is inexperienced.

If I knew for sure that I'd love a particular old tea, I'd get it. I just don't think I'm quite up to finding/choosing it yet. I've read a fair few reports of ancient tea not living up to expectation (or their price) too and thats pretty frightening to a newb

I've taken note of your suggestions at Houde and Holymtn though. I'd be very interested in more of your thoughts on those teas. Are HM's short descriptions accurate and fair to them?

I'll consider these once my wallet has recovered after this YS llc buy

Salsero wrote:I agree with all the statements made so far about aged and about buying samples. ABx suggested Stéphane's 1990 Fang Cha Zhuan as an example of a sort of benchmark, average aged sheng at a reasonable price. I just got a whole brick (probably more than I need!) and agree that it is a nice example, though not stunning. The last price list I got from him listed it at $8.00 US for 30 gr.

I've seen Stéphane's Blog - great stuff.

I have a price list from him but I'm wondering how I order exactly. Do you just email a request and take it from there?